Yeshiva rabbi in Spring Valley charged with assaulting student, 10

Rabbi Meilech Spitzer, the principal of a major religious school in Spring Valley, has been charged with assault, accused of slapping a 10-year-old student in the face several times.

Spitzer is charged with third-degree assault, a misdemeanor, and accused of intending to physically harm the child. Spitzer slapped the victim “numerous times on the left side of his face and left ear,” according to the complaint.

A message left for Spitzer at his Brooklyn home has not been returned on Monday. Spring Valley police declined to return telephone calls for comment.

Steve Lieberman joined The Journal News as an editor in February 1984 and became a reporter during the spring of 1986. He has covered police, courts and legal issues for more than a decade, after reporting on county, town, village and state governments and general issues. He received more than a dozen state awards for writing and reporting. Born and raised in The Bronx, he has lived in Rockland since 1988.